You’ve heard the saying, “If it’s to be, it’s up to me”. When it comes to overcoming chronic pain, nothing could be truer. You will need support but it really is up to you. And, you can do it!
If you outsource your treatment without your active involvement, you might get temporary relief but little chance of any long-lasting change. Chronic pain needs a multi-pronged approach.
We all want to be and feel healthy. And, nothing is more important than to be as pain-free as possible. Most people go to the doctor because they are in pain or discomfort.
MY APPROACH TO CHRONIC PAIN
I’ve had my share of pain from significant injuries. And, as I age, I find that I have to pay much more attention to my body to stay out of pain. I broke a car windshield with my head when I was 18 and many decades later, I’m dealing with the long-term repercussions of that accident. This has really honed my focus and ability in dealing with pain.
It has also motivated me in my quest to help others overcome chronic pain. I understand how impacted every aspect of life is by chronic pain.
TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR CHRONIC PAIN WITH THESE 5 CRITICAL FACTORS
Here are what I consider the most important factors you absolutely must embrace if you are serious about overcoming your chronic pain. This is a process
1. Commitment: the most important thing to understand about health is that it is a process. And, the common thing about all processes is that they take time. You have to commit to the process and all the things within it if you expect to be successful.
There will be things you need to do that you might not notice much of an impact for weeks or even a month or two. Any practitioner that you see will need to be seen with some regularity if you expect them to help shift any long standing pattern.
2. Regularity: like commitment, you must be prepared to add self-care, exercises, and other activities to your daily schedule if you truly want to change your chronic pain. As a result of your pain you have adopted habits, postures and patterns that are an obstacle to your recovery. Shifting these patterns requires time and repetition.
3. Movement: I could say exercise but that really isn’t what I’m talking about here. Movement often seems like a double-edged sword to those in pain. If they move much they hurt more. So, they tend to limit their movement and what they don’t often realize is that over time their pain worsens because they aren’t moving.
Restoring and maintaining the right type of movement is critical. Done properly, movement can greatly reduce your pain in combination with other strategies. We are meant to move and when movement is restricted it will increase pain and stiffness.
4. Your Posture: Here I’m talking about how you sit, stand, and walk. Sitting seems to be the biggest violation for most people. Here are the core basics. When you stand, put your weight on both feet equally. Most of us find ourselves standing with our weight shifted more to one leg or the other and this creates tension and imbalance.
When you sit, sit on both sit bones equally. Do not cross your legs. This can be a challenging habit to shift, especially for women. As soon as you cross one leg over the other you unlevel your pelvis and your body has to work hard to maintain balance. Imbalance is one huge driver of pain.
5. Sleep: Your body needs deep sleep every night. This is where your body actually does the healing and repair. If you are not sleeping well, it makes it near impossible to make significant progress on pain. Poor sleep drives up inflammation and as a result, pain. Often, we need to take care of other factors to allow someone to get that sleep.
Sleep medications might allow you to go unconscious but research in sleep labs show that they actually rob you of the deep sleep that you so desperately need.
I have found that as you reduce nervous system tension there is a corresponding and progressive ease in the body and better sleep comes naturally. You still need to address aspects of sleep hygiene to optimize sleep.
Chronic pain just zaps you of energy, of motivation, and after many failed attempts it can become demoralizing. I want to urge you to give it another try. What other choice do you have? It will take focus and perseverance on your part and it might take a team to help you.
Consider some of the following to support you:
- Myofascial body worker: this sounds like massage but I urge you to find someone with experience and skill. Look for someone who has extensive experience dealing with chronic pain. Referrals are the best source.
- Chiropractic: care that helps bring you into alignment and restores spinal motion is critical to turning down the pain from the nervous system. The neck in general, and the upper neck in particular have a profound impact on the degree of tension within the nervous system and the body as a whole.
- Acupuncture: many people get tremendous relief with acupuncture care. Here again look for someone with experience guiding people through chronic pain.
Remember, it is a process with this journey. Don’t judge anything on one try or one week. It will take time and you should see benefit in a short time. It’s not uncommon to experience a short term spike in pain or experience a different pattern of pain as you unwind stored trauma and tension from the body.
The location of the pain might shift as you release one pattern and uncover another. Stick with it.
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